Guide Note

A gas BBQ grill is a barbecue grill powered by natural gas or propane, generally used to cook food, most commonly meat.

Fast Facts

1. Developed by: Walter Koziol in the 1950s
2. Common uses: Cooking food outdoors
3. Price range: $50-$5000
4. Uses either natural gas or propane

While grilling in general dates back to the early 1900s, gas grills were introduced in the 1950s by Walter Koziol. Originally built off of the round design of charcoal grills, Kozoil developed his model over the next several years, debuting an improved rectangular gas grill in 1963.

Three main factors to consider when purchasing a gas grill are size, power and price. Lower end, less expensive gas grills are smaller, have less cooking power and less features. More expensive gas grills typically have a larger grilling surface, more cooking power and more features such as a side burner. Cooking power for gas grills is measured in Btus or British Thermal Units, meaning how much heat is produced in an hour. Low end grills can have as little as 5,000 Btus, while much larger more expensive units can have as many as 100,000 Btus. Typically a grill will be efficient if it has 100 or more Btus of power for each square inch of cooking surface.

• Vermont Castings
• Traegar Industries
• John Deere
• Viking
• Fiesta
• Ducane
• Weber
• Char-Griller
• Wilmington Grills